The classic form of haiku generally involves the seasons or some simple, unadulterated (not overly verbose) description of life or an instant image before the poet. The three poets generally considered to be masters of the haiku tradition are Basho (1644-94), Buson (1716-83) and Issa (1763-1827). They differed greatly: Basho was spiritual and poignant, Buson was more artistic and Issa was more emotional and humane.

What's interesing to note is that the commonly accepted 5-7-5 syllable style was never used by any of them. In fact, according to my research, the only 5-7-5 syllable style I could discover was as part of a larger poem called a RENGA, which was a collaborative poem. The first poet wrote the first verse in the 5-7-5 form, and each following poet had a different structure to follow.